White Elephants over Tulsa
by tacticalUltimatum
Summary: "If Darry talked you into this I'm sure you won't regret it." She cries softly into him as he holds her close. Warnings: ideologically sensitive material and genderbending/rule 63


White Elephants over Tulsa

Inspired by the Hemingway story.  
Warnings: ideologically sensitive material, genderbending/rule 63  
Word count: 1590

* * *

Something is changing in Soda. She seems to be growing more than she did before, like a caterpillar undergoing metamorphosis to turn into a butterfly.

She was never really _well endowed_ as a sixteen-year-old girl and if anything her body had looked like that of a lanky fifteen-year-old boy's. Her breasts were small and could easily be covered by her hands or the mouth of a lover, she had no apparent curves with barely any hips to hold on to, and her legs were lean and could be effortlessly encircled by old male hands. But within the last three months her breast started to swell more, her hips had widened, her thighs thickened, and she appeared to have been gaining some fat as well. Now, she can't even pull her old pairs of jeans past mid-thigh or wear her old shirts because they would stretch out noticeably over her chest. "Maybe I _am_ just a late bloomer," she would think.

She isn't the only who noticed these changes, obviously. Oh, far from it –if anything, her friends and family had noticed long before she did. Ponyboy seemed angry at her changes saying that "now everybody will want to be with her," but he's just trying to be protective. Steve felt sad in the idea of losing his best "guy" friend, but was willing to accept his best friend since grade school. Two-bit joked that maybe he would date her, she was blonde after all. Johnny said that he likes her as much now as he did before. Dally and Darry both knew the reason behind Soda's sudden differences, and though Dally would just smile gently at her, Darry would frown and think of a perfect time to talk to Soda about it.

And he did find the perfect time.

-

One night after work, while Ponyboy is working on his assignments in his bedroom, he sits Soda down in the kitchen to discuss her body with her. It wasn't going to be easy, but Darry knows that he could talk some sense into her. All he has to do is show her the encumbrance of having a white elephant.

"What do you want, Darry?" Soda asks impatiently. She hated having discussions of any kind. Darry is going to have to be tender with her.

He holds her hands over the table whilst thinking of what to say. He let them go and starts, "It's nothing important; I just want to discuss what you have with Dally."

Soda blushes. "What about us?" she blurts.

"It's not really about you and him but what's happening to you," he tries gently. He needs to consider his words, chew them over and over, and pick them out carefully.

"You've noticed haven't you?" she whispers.

"Of course I have. Soda… you're a beautiful girl, Soda," pushes back some of her wispy, blonde hair while cupping her face in both his hands delicately, "but these changes are very apparent. You haven't been well lately and you're appetite has altered considerably."

"So you're all right with us being together?" she questions timidly.

Darry drops his hands from her face and sighs, "I've said it just moments before –I'm regarding your changes and what's happening." With any but of luck Soda might understand what he's talking about. But maybe she actually does know what he's saying and is trying to maneuver her way around it. Trying to shift subjects back and forth. But she doesn't.

She ponders over her words. "All right… I know what you're saying and what you're trying to say… but I really hope you're not talking abo—"

"I am," he interjects, "and it's not that I don't want you to be with him, it's that there's a burden that comes with _this_."

She's crushed. "Darry, no, plea—"

"It's for the best, Soda. You're too young to be making decisions like this. You're too young to carry a responsibility like this," he reasons.

"Darry, I can do whatever I want!" she hisses, her eyes burning with tears that roll down her cheeks in warm trails.

"Soda… you can't possibly want this," he says, rubbing Soda's tears from her cheeks with his thumb. "Do you know the burdens of having… for a lack of better words, this white elephant?" Soda is silent. "Do you know what I'm trying to say?"

The stillness between Darry's question and Soda's answer was long. "You're saying that… the cost of having it is not worth its value. There is no net gain from having it…"

He smiles sympathetically. "Exactly, Baby."

"But…" she starts after more quiet has come between them.

"But what?" he asks a bit too quickly.

"But I don't want to do it," she finishes slowly.

"Soda, Soda, Soda, no… you don't understand."

"I do," she spits out defiantly, "and it's my decision whether or not I want this."

"Look," he scowls, "I have tried being patient with you, but if you're going to be a kid about this, then I have no choice than to ruin your romanticized dreams." He grabs Soda by the shoulders and gazes into her eyes with more fierceness than necessary. "We can't afford to keep it. It would, like _you_'ve said, 'cost too much' to have. We are struggling as is to feed ourselves and keep ourselves living. What makes you think we can continue this?"

She's crying more than ever now as Darry lets go of her. As cliché as it sounds, it hurt him more than it hurt her to say it. "Soda, c'mon now. Stop crying," he apologizes. Her whole body is shaking. He tries to hug her and show some concern after his explosion. She lets him. "It's just that, you've dropped out of school to work, I'm working two to three shifts a day, and we're trying to make ends meet as is. I'm not sure what Dally can do for you, but I highly doubt it's enough. Do you understand? I don't want to ruin your relationship with him; I'm just trying to show you that maybe this isn't the right choice. Not at the moment at least."

"What would I tell him?" Soda sniffles.

"Just tell him what I said. I'm sure he'll understand," Darry presses. He's finally made progress.

"Okay then…"

"So you're going to do what I say?"

"Sure…"

"Great. I have a day off tomorrow; I can bring you to the hospital then, all right?"

"Okay," she sniffles some more. She stands up from her chair, wiping her tears from her face with the back of her hand while trying to push her hair back a bit from her eyes with the other.

"Are you all right?" Darry asks as he gets up from his chair. He lightly strokes her hair. He knows already that she will be fine. It's all for the best.

"Yeah… I just… need to go talk to Dally about this first?"

"Of course, of course." He's come this far, he's already pushed her into this, so why not give her some piece of mind and closure? He hugs her tight. "You won't regret this, Soda. I promise."

"All right."

Her voice was as weak as she had felt.

-

Soda was lucky Dally had gotten into a fight with Tim Shepard earlier that night –it gave him a reason to sleep over at her place. She snuck out of her room gingerly and found him sleeping on the couch. She somehow managed to squeeze herself between Dally and the edge of the couch, waking him up in the process. He looks down at her curled up against his chest and smiles.

"Soda," he starts groggily, "what's going on? Darry'll be pissed tomorrow morning if he sees us like this." He means it all in good jest.

"We're going to the hospital tomorrow…" she whispers meekly.

"Wait, what?" Dally asks, sitting up more on the couch. He's completely awake now.

"I can't, no _we_ can't, do it."

"'We' as in us two, or 'we' as in you and Darry and Ponyboy?"

"Darry and I… he's working two to three shifts a day," she sniffles, "and I'm working as well. He doesn— I mean, I don't think it's the right time for this…"

"Did Darry talk you into this?" Dally asks softly. Soda nods her head forlornly and instead of yelling at her, he just hugs her, whispering, "I understand; it's your choice anyways." He kisses her on the head. "If Darry talked you into this I'm sure you won't regret it."

She cries softly into him as he holds her close.

-

Two days have passed since Ponyboy fainted after the rumble.

Two days have passed since Johnny died in the hospital and two have passed since Dally died under the street light by police gunfire.

Instead of taking care of her ill brother, Soda is told –ordered— by Darry to rest before she herself gets sick from exhaustion. She doesn't disobey.

"Soda? Soda, what are you doing here?" Darry demands as he enters Ponyboy's room. "I though I told you to go rest."

"I am, I'm sleeping here tonight," she utters softly as she lies down on the bed next to Ponyboy.

"That's fine I suppose," he considers.

"Hey, Darry?" Soda starts.

"Hmm, what?"

"Did you see the clouds the day after Dally died?

"Yesterday you mean? No I didn't. Why? Is a storm coming or something?"

"No," she mutters, turning her head to the window, "I just though that they looked like white elephants."

* * *

It's hard to try to incorporate both Hemingway's style of writing (omitting information) and Fitzgerald's style of writing (elaborate descriptions).  
I need to find my own style.


End file.
